A large crowd gathered outside the Nigerian embassy in Madrid on Saturday to show solidarity with Christians who have been attacked or abducted back home.
The demonstration follows the kidnapping of more than 250 children from a Catholic school in northern Nigeria just over a week ago.
Christiana Wariboko, president of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, urged more involvement from foreign governments and international humanitarian groups.
“We are standing for Christians, representing Nigerian Christians,” she said. “Please intervene and take action regarding the killings of Nigerian Christians.”
Nigeria has witnessed two major mass abductions of schoolchildren in the past three weeks, as well as a deadly attack on a church service.
Gunmen also stormed a mainly Muslim school in Kebbi, seizing 30 students before the government facilitated their release.
Security analysts say many of the kidnappings are driven by extortion, with schools targeted because of poor security.
This latest pattern of attacks comes as US President Donald Trump threatened military action in Nigeria over claims that Christians are being persecuted by radical Islamist militants.
However, human rights experts argue that Boko Haram has actually killed more Muslims than Christians.
The Nigerian government says allegations of Christian persecution oversimplify the country’s complex security issues and do not reflect ongoing efforts to protect religious freedom.
President Bola Tinubu declared a national state of emergency last week and increased police deployment to tackle the rising violence.
Since 2014, Nigeria has recorded at least a dozen mass student kidnappings, with over 1,799 students abducted during that period.Many victims are never recovered.
